KARACHI, Feb 26: As many as 58 positions lie vacant in the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre’s school of nursing. Another seven are vacant in its college of nursing which has only 40 positions in all, it was learnt on Tuesday.

According to documents obtained by Dawn, the JPMC’s school of nursing doesn’t even have a nursing superintendent. And there is a shortfall of three instructors against a total requirement of only 12.

The school has only 140 charge nurses against a total requirement of 176. In addition, there is a shortfall of 11 nursing aids.

The situation obtaining in the college of nursing is even worse. Here there’s a shortfall of five nursing instructors against a total of only eight. In other words, three instructors are doing what eight are supposed to do.

The above data show clearly that the authorities do not attach enough importance to the standard of education in the nursing institutions of the country. As a consequence the standards are falling rapidly.

It’s a well-known fact that the doctor to nurses ratio in the country compares very poorly with those of other developing countries. And it’s simply atrocious when compared to those of the developed countries.

However, what’s not been publicized yet is that the standard of education in the country’s nursing institutions is very poor too. So the nursing sector lags behind both in terms of quality as well as quantity, said a government nurse.

She said not much improvement could be brought about in the health-care sector until and unless there was progress on the nursing front.

According to the Pakistan Medical Association, the country has eight doctors for every nurse. The universally-recognized guidelines stipulate that for every doctor there should be 15 nurses. In all the country has only 28,000 nurses.